Wow, thanks everyone. I was fully expecting to be flammed out, even borrowed a flame retardant suit from one of my firefighter friends!
Just for a little bit of info- I read the manual twice, bought a more indepth manual from Yvon Bourque's site, and I cannot post pics since I've been practicing on family & foster kids (we're foster parents).
Last night confirms some of my initial thoughts. The ISO is the problem. It fights me. It wants to do everything for me. It will not even let me snap a pic until it's approved settings are met. Its maddening.
I said I was turning everything off for last nights practice but after reading the recommended settings, I switched some back on and got nothing but noise. Stills look like they are 1870 stills from the Wild West.
Indoor shots at 3200 ISO??? (because I limited it, it was jumping to 51000) Drives me crazy. As soon as a single light bulb in the building is turned off it jumps to the worst case scenario! Then my aperture (had to crank it to 3.6 before it let me snap a pic) is thrown off & the shutter speed is sooooooooo slow everything is a blur (camera made me drop down to 1/20). Looking at the pics in post just made me sick. I was shooting in a church, fully lit, Christmas play with my kids. Pics are garbage, Film is really nice.
Interestingly enough, when I switch to movie, not changing from my desired setting, its crystal clear when I play it back in post. But the stills are just screaming with noise.
I'm liking the movie function of this camera. Yes there is jello but nothing that post can't cure. In fact even a light weight NLE can cure everything I've seen so far.
Also, AF, even in single point, I would get a jumping red dot, as if its going to find what I really wanted to focus on. I know how to center and keep a subject in center even at a full out run for the goal with my K-x which had no red box/dot.
Maybe I have a defective camera. Pentax wants me to send it to someplace in CT. So, I'll be w/o a camera over the holidays. Unless I return it or figure out its a level 8 issue.
Also, one of the reasons I bought this was due to the picture/movie switch. Love that feature.
Oh, and I only have the two lenses. Both WR. 18-135 & 50-300
Thank you again everyone.
Last edited by MyTZuS; 12-12-2014 at 09:15 AM.
Reason: add info